Corrugated paper container



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United States Patent O 3,100,072 CORRUGATED PAPER CONTAINER .lames I. Mason, 3107 W. 173rd St., Hazel Crest, Ill. Filed July 31, 1961, Ser. No. 128,050 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-16) This invention rela-tes in general .to corrugated paper containers, and more particularly to a container forma tion which is scored for improving its stacking strength.

A problem of considerable dimension which has existed in the container industry for some time arises out of the load bearing qualities of corrugated paper containers. Corrugated paper containers or cartons (which are sometimes also referred to as cardboard containers), of conventional rectangular cross-sectional shape, shave, when stacked, a tendency to buckle outwardly along all their sides.

The tendency to buckle is partly reduced by a very ingenious concept employed in the present invention. This concept entails the provision of an inverted V-shaped scoring applied to the exterior of the short ends of the cartons. Preferably, the apex of the V is provided at the mid-point of the top edge of the short side and the legs of the V extend to the respective opposite corners.

It is therefore 4an object of the present invention to provide a container with improved load bearing quali-ties and increased resistance to buckling forces thereon.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a regular slotted container having scoring thereon for improving the load bearing qualities of the` container.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a reinforced regular slotted container, wherein the reinforcement may be added at a minimum of cost and wit'h out adding .any separate parts to the container construction.

And a `further object of this invention is to provide a regular slotted container with reinforcement against buckling such that when 4buckling does occur the sides buckle inwardly against the contents of the container so as to be further braced by -the containers contents.

rllhese and other objects of the present invention will become apparent on examination of the following specilication, claims and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a completed carton or container which embodies my invention;

FIGURE 2 is -a top plan view of a blank from which the carton of FIGURE l is formed;

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic elevational view of a plurality of containers in a stack yformation with the score-d sides facing outwardly of the drawing; and

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the stack arrangement shown in FIGURE 3.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIG. l a regular slotted container of corrugated cardboard, or paper, indicated by the reference character and commonly known in the trade as RSC. Such a conrainer comprises opposed end walls, one of which is indicated at 12; opposed side walls, one of which is indicated at 14; and opposed top and bottom walls, the top wall being indicated at 16. FIihe end wall is distinguished from the side wall in that the en'd wall is generally of lesser Width than the sidewall and, in any event, is of no greater width than the side wall. When such containers are tilled and stacked one u-pon another, it has been observed that the lower containers tend to buckle under large loads thereabove. When such buckling occurs almost invariably it begins in the side Wall of lesser Width, and that W-all tends to buckle, or bulge outwardly.

Now, in the improved container, it will be seen that the end wall 12 is provided with an inverted V-shaped scoring indicated at 18 with the apex of the V located at the midpoint of the top edge of the end Wall 12 and with 3,100,072 Patented Aug. 6, 1963 ICC the legs 20 of the V-shaped scoring extending to and terminating at the opposite, or lower, corners of the end wall. The scoring is accomplished by sharply compressing the container wall material along the sco-re lines, as is well known in the lgeneral art of scoring.

The carton or container 10 is ordinarily formed from a slotted blank, or development, 22 as shown in FIG. 2. The blank 22 is simply a rectangular length or web` of cardboard slotted at 24 at the opposite longitudinal edges in a direction transverse to the edges. The slots 24 form the flaps 26, 28, 30 and 32 along opposite edges. These flaps are subsequently folded to form the top wall 16 and bottom wall of the container. The body 34 of the blank 22 is scored yat 36, 38 and 40 to enable the body to be folded to dene the end and side walls 12 and 14 respective-ly". The end walls 12 are in addition provided with the respective V-shaped score marks 18 arranged as described. The score marks may be provided during the normal scoring or printing operation by a rotary blade or flange that is moved into the desired scoring relationship with respect to the blank 22.

To 'form the container 10l from the blank 22, the body 34 is simply folded about the respective score lines 36, 38 and 40 until the edge of 14 meets with the edge of 12 and the two edges are conventionally united. The flaps 26 and 30 along one edge .are then bent over to meet along one -axis of the container and the aps 28 and 32 yare bent likewise, at right an-gles to flaps 26 and 30 and in overlapping engagement therewith to form the top wall 16. The other aps 26, 28, 30 and 32 are similarly bent to form the bottom wall.

A number of filled cantons 10 may then be loaded and stacked as shown in front elevation FIG. 3 and in side elevation in FIG. 4. The lower the container or carton is in the stack, the :greater the weight borne thereby. Therefore, any increase in the Iload bearing qualities of the cartons permits of higher stacking and consequent space savings. The invented V-shaped scoring 18 enables the cartons to bear an increased load of :about 14%. By providing the scoring 18 in the outer surface of the end walls 12, in the event that the walls do buckle, they buckle inwardly and tend to engage the contents of the carton to thereby further brace the walls by engagement with the contents of the containers.

While a number of theories may be advanced as to `the reason for the successful results achieved by the present invention, it is believed that the score lines operate to distribute the lforces so as to avoid a column effect which causes buckling, whereby an improvement ranging up to about 14% in load bearing qualities and stacking strength of the improved containers described has been achieved.

While there has been shown and described a particular embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the -art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall with-in the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a regular slotted rectangular container of the type having a top, bottom, opposed side walls and opposed end walls, the improvement for increasing the stacking strength of such containers comprising an inverted V-shaped rigidifyin'g scoring in each end wall, said rigiditying scoring being non-folding therealong in normal usage, with the apex of the V at the mid-point of the top edge of the end wall, and with the lower ends of the V-shaped scoring terminating at the lower corners of the end wall.

` 2. In a regular slotted rectan-gular container of the type having a top, bottom, opposed side walls and opposed end walls, the improvement for increasing the stacking strength of such containers comprising an inverted V-shaped rigidifying scoring n each end wall, said rigidifying scoring being non-folding therealong in normal usage, with t'he apex of the V .at the mid-point of the top edge of the end Wall and with the lower ends of the V-shaped scoring terminating at the lower corners of the end wall, said V-shaped scoring being in the outer surface of the end wall so that in the event of a buckling failure under a compressive force, said end walls will buckle inwardly.

3. In -a cardboard blank for forming -a regular slotted rectangular container of the type having a top, bottom, 15 2,962,203

side walls and end walls, the improvement for increasing the stacking strength of such containers comprising a V-shaped rigidifyin-g scoring of each end wall with the apex of the V at the mid-point of the top edge of the end -Wall and with the lower ends of the V-shaped scoring terminating vat the lower corners of the end wall, and said V-shaped rigidifying scoring being non-foldable there- -along in normal usa-ge.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,023,182 Pierce Dec. 3, 1935 2,475,677 Ringler July 12, 1949 2,654,525 Adorney et al Oct. 6, 1953 Fallert NOV. 29, 1960 

1. IN A REGULAR SLOTTED RECTANGULAR CONTAINER OF THE TYPE HAVING A TOP, BOTTOM, OPPOSED SIDE WALLS AND OPPOSED END WALLS, THE IMPROVEMENT FOR INCREASING THE STACKING STRENGTH OF SUCH CONTAINERS COMPRISING AN INVERTED V-SHAPED RIGIDIFYING SCORING IN EACH END WALL, SAID RIGIDIFYING SCORING BEING NON-FOLDING THEREALONG IN NORMAL USAGE, WITH THE APEX OF THE V AT THE MID-POINT OF THE TOP EDGE OF THE END WALL, AND WITH THE LOWER ENDS OF THE V-SHAPED SCORING TERMINATING AT THE LOWER CORNERS OF THE END WALL. 